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Why Should I Have To Pay for My Employees’ Health Care?

Posted Tuesday, May 26, 2009 - 12:20pm
Photograph of surgeon washing her hands by Medioimages/Photodisc/Getty Images.

As the national debate on health care reform ramps up, we're going to hear all kinds of claims about what is or is not good for business. To me, though, it's pretty clear-cut: a system that gets me, as a small-business owner, out of the health-insurance business will be good for business, and anything else will either be no help or will make things worse. Sadly, it doesn't look like President Obama is headed in the right direction.

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  • Jonathan Weber is the founder, publisher, and CEO of New West, a media company covering life and business in the Rocky Mountain West.
Photograph of surgeon washing her hands by Medioimages/Photodisc/Getty Images.

Think Global, Sell Local

Posted Monday, May 18, 2009 - 10:30am
City of Missoula, Montana.

"Location, location, location" has been the mantra of the real estate industry for as long as anyone can remember. Still, as the national economy transforms in the wake of the economic crisis, the power of place will prove to be ever more important for a broad range of small businesses.

Most demographic and market indicators suggest that growth and development across the country are moving away from the suburban and exurban fringe and toward center-cities and close-in suburbs.

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  • Jonathan Weber is the founder, publisher, and CEO of New West, a media company covering life and business in the Rocky Mountain West.
Photograph of Missoula by Joshulove/Wikipedia.

The Hire Next Time

Posted Monday, May 11, 2009 - 10:48am
The job opportunities page.

One of the many pearls of wisdom I've gotten over the years from Brad Feld, a venture capitalist and personal investor in NewWest.Net, is, "Know what you suck at." Since most small-business owners have to fill many roles, you're definitely going to suck at some of them, and you can save yourself a lot of heartache by being keenly aware of what you're good at and what you're not.

Single Page
  • Jonathan Weber is the founder, publisher, and CEO of New West, a media company covering life and business in the Rocky Mountain West.
Photograph of a newspaper by Stockbyte/Getty Creative Images.

Know When To Fold

Posted Monday, May 4, 2009 - 2:35pm
When to fold, Making Payroll

As a journalist, I've always been fascinated by stories of business failure: As Time Inc. founder Henry Luce supposedly once said, they're usually much more interesting than stories of success.

As a small-business person, I also ascribe to the view that you learn an awful lot from failure, and that tolerance of failure is a crucial aspect of entrepreneurial business culture.

  • Jonathan Weber is the founder, publisher, and CEO of New West, a media company covering life and business in the Rocky Mountain West.
(Photograph of a casino table by Christian Thomas/fStop/Getty Creative Images)

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